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Wednesday, 18 May 2016

King Mswati III of Swaziland has lost another round in
a long-running
court dispute over an alleged unpaid bill of US$3.5 million for improvements
and repairs to his private jet.

SG Air Leasing and SG Commodities Trading, two
companies associated with businessman Shanmuga Rethenam, popularly known as
Shan, have been chasing the King through courts in Canada and the British
Virgin Islands for the money they allege is owed by the King and a company he
solely owns called Inchatsavane.

At one time the King’s DC-9-87 private jet was
impounded in Canada while courts decided on its future. The jet has since
been released but the King was required to place US$3.5 million in a trust
account in Canada pending the final decision of the court.

On 5 May 2016, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
ordered that the money must remain in the trust account. It also ruled that
King Mswati and Inchatsavane must not dispose of the aircraft until the matter
is settled by the court.

On Sunday (15 May 2016), the Times
Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, where King Msawti rules
as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported the Swazi Prime
Minister Barnabas Dlamini saying the DC-9-87 would not be sold.

The newspaper said the decision had been taken after a ‘due diligence
process of business viability analysis’.

It added, ‘He said it was decided that the aircraft would make a lot of
money being leased out to private clients in its customised state.’

The Swazi Government has already announced it will buy
the King a A340-300 jet from China Airlines in Taiwan at a cost of about
US$13 million.

Swaziland is presently in the grip of a drought and 300,000 of the
population’s 1.3 million people are in need of food and other aid. The Swazi
Government has appealed to the international community for financial assistance.

About seven in ten of the population live in abject poverty with incomes
of less than US$2 a day.

The Times of
Swaziland newspaper has been made to retract a story and apologise after it
said one of King Mswati III’s fiercest business critics was ‘robbing’ Swaziland
of billions.

The target was Shanmuga Rethenam, popularly known as
Shan, who has been pursing King Mswati through courts in Canada and the British
Virgin Islands over an alleged
unpaid debt of US$3.5 million relating to repairs and improvements to the King’s
private jet.

The article appeared in the Times of Swaziland on 28 September 2015 and made a number of statements
about Shan’s business dealings that it presented as fact.

A letter from Shan’s solicitor Rosin Wright
Rosengarten to the Times of Swaziland
said the article had ‘directly copied various sections of an article published
by the City Press [a South African
newspaper]’.

The City Press
had also made an apology to Shan. In its apology, City Press said allegations against Shan, ‘have been made by
parties who are currently in litigation with Mr Shanmuga Rethenam and remain
unproven’.

In
its retraction the Times of Swaziland,
published in the print edition of the newspaper on 9 May 2016 and carried
on the newspaper’s website every day since, said ‘We would like to clarify that
these are allegations contained in court documents whose veracity is yet to be
tested in a court of law.

‘We
therefore retract this statement and further unreservedly apologise to Mr Rethenam
for any embarrassment that might have been caused by the article which we have
now withdrawn from the online version of the newspaper.’

On
Tuesday (17 May 2016) newspapers in Swaziland reported that the Swazi Director
of Prosecutions Nkosinathi Maseko had charged Shan with 14 counts relating to
business activities.

The Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect
owned by King Mswati III who is sub-Sharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, said
charges against Shan included, ‘fraud, money laundering, cheating public
revenue and theft’.

The newspaper’s
report which ran for nearly 2,200 words appeared in full on its website.
Usually, the newspaper only publishes one or two paragraphs of a selection of its
stories online and then directs readers to a paysite for the rest.

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

The rich
and powerful are also avoiding the tax man in Swaziland. Nineteen of the Panama
Papers documents are related to Africa’s last absolute monarchy, writes
Kenworthy News Media.

The
leaking of the so-called Panama Papers, with details of offshore financial
information that “strips away the secrecy that cloaks companies and trusts
incorporated in tax havens and exposes the people behind them,” have made
headlines around the world.

When the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released the documents
that name more than 360,000 people and companies behind secret offshore
structures in tax havens such as Panama on May 9, nineteen of the documents
were linked to Swaziland.

Obscure
companies from around the world

The documents include more or less obscure companies such as the Fondation La
Perle du Nil, registered in Mbabane, with jurisdiction in the British Virgin
Islands and linked to Alpha Management Trading Ltd. in Dubai and the fittingly
named Talent Profits Limited from Malaysia.

It also
includes individuals such as Ian and Helen McLaughlin, also registered in
Mbabane and shareholders of the Bahamian-based Orca Gold Corporation
International Limited.

There are
links to individuals and companies from places such as Spain, Ecuador, Peru,
Russia, the USA, The UK, Samoa, China and Hong Kong, hiding their assets mostly
in the British Virgin Islands but also in Panama and Jersey.

Although
such companies are often created for tax evasion purposes, being on the Panama
Papers list does not necessarily mean that they have done so.

The king
pays no taxes

The corporate tax rate in Swaziland is 27.5
percent (down from 30 percent in 2013), which is the same as the average
rate for Africa, below countries
such as the USA (39 percent), India (34 percent) and South Africa (28
percent) but above the global
average of 23 percent.

Tibiyo
Taka Ngwane, a fund with a
total worth of around USD 2 billion that in theory is held in trust for all
Swazis, but in practice used as a private fund by King Mswati and the royal
family, is exempt from taxes, as is the king himself.

King Mswati III the absolute monarch in Swaziland has
‘donated’ US$150,000 to help victims of drought in his kingdom. It came weeks
after it was revealed the government he handpicked will spend US$13 million on
a private
jet aircraft for him.

King Mswati came under intense
criticism after a national drought
emergency was declared in Swaziland in February 2016 and the Swazi
Government announced it could not pay for necessary relief. It calculated it
would need US$16 million in international aid by the end of April 2016.

The European
Union in Swaziland reported in February
2016, ‘The
drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon has severely affected Swaziland
resulting in the loss of more than 40,000 herd of cattle with more than 300,000
people in the country (about 25 percent of the population) facing severe food
shortages.’

The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the
best-known prodemocracy group in Swaziland, said
the move to buy a A430-300 Airbus for the King was ‘corrupt’ and
‘insensitive’ at a time when about one in four of Swaziland’s 1.3 million
population was in extreme danger of hunger because of the prolonged drought in
the southern Africa region.

In
a statement, PUDEMO said, ‘That money used to buy the jet can
pay for 2,500 students to finish their degrees at the university from 1st year
to 4th year. The same amount can pay for 42,500 children to start form one up
to form five in public schools. So the king decided to steal from 45,000
children to live a luxury life.’

PUDEMO also estimated the money spent on the jet could
alternatively, ‘recapitalise farmers with 20,000 new cattle and feed; or build
a new fully furnished hospital; or build 40 fully-equipped clinics; or build 35
new fully-furnished schools; or build 10 tar roads in rural areas each 20km.’

The Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported
his donation as if it were from his own money. It
reported, ‘His Majesty has always advocated the love thy neighbour principle as he
has always preached for people to help one another in times of need.’

However, the King has never held a salaried position
in his life and his entire income comes from the Swazi people, either in the
form of their taxes or money he holds from company profits and mineral royalties
‘in trust for the Swazi nation’.

In reality he uses the money to fund a lavish
lifestyle. He already owns a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jet aircraft that cost about
US$11 million in 2010, but he considers it too small. The King also has 13 palaces and fleets of BMW and
Mercedes cars.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of
his 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than USS$2
per day.

Monday, 9 May 2016

Swaziland’s
big-spending absolute monarch King Mswati III is spending millions of dollars
on a new personal jet and other luxuries, while many of his poor citizens rely
on food aid to survive, writes Kenworthy News Media.

“The
monarchy is a luxury that Swazi’s cannot afford. It is like a blood-sucking
parasite that has sucked its host dry”, says Swazi activist Bheki Dlamini.

He is
doing a Masters in Public Administration, is President of the banned Swaziland
Youth Congress and spent nearly 4 years in a small filthy cell in one of King
Mswati’s prisons. The charges against him were soon dropped once his case
finally went to court, but he subsequently had to flee the country because he
criticized the government in a speech.

One
example of the opulence of King Mswati is that he is presently buying a new jet
for US$ 13 million of public money during a drought that has seen a large part
of the population receiving food aid from the UN to survive, says Bheki
Dlamini.

Land is
central

Swaziland is an absolute monarchy that is not unlike a medieval feudal state.
In a report on the country from 2013, called “Swaziland: a failed feudal
state”, American research NGO Freedom House speaks of the “shocking realities
of oppression, abject poverty, hunger and disease” in a country where the king
has seized “private and public property for his personal benefit” while being
“immune from civil suits and criminal prosecution”.

At
independence land and mining rights were granted to the monarch and not the
government or the people, Bheki Dlamini explains.

“Just
before independence in 1968, a fund were set up to buy back land from the
British colonialists that gave birth to Tibiyo Taka Ngwane [that has stakes or
shares in agriculture, property, a printing company and the Swazi Observer
newspaper et al] and Tisuka Taka Ngwane [a residential and commercial property
developer]. But these two public companies have been taken away from the
Swazi’s and tuned out to be royal purse. The land that was bought is now royal
land it was never returned to the people for the development of local
communities”.

The king
rules supreme

Today King Mswati therefore controls over half of the land, as well as the
parliament and judiciary. He also has a personal fortune of $100-200 million,
receives over $30 million a year from the taxpayers, and generally leads a
playboy lifestyle with his umpteen wives and many palaces.

He is a
shareholder of many of Swaziland’s companies, from which he receives a
considerable percentage of the profit. Ordinary citizens, on the other hand,
have no security of tenure in a country where 75 percent depend on subsistence
farming for their survival.

Many are
therefore evicted, whenever the king or his chiefs want to use the land for
vanity projects such as Mswati’s new international airport. Control of the land
and economy is therefore at the centre of the struggle that rural people face
on a daily basis, says Bheki Dlamini, who himself comes from the rural areas.

Political
and economic control

Apart
from agriculture, much of Swaziland’s use of land and wealth comes from the
utilization of other natural resources such a sugar, coal, gold and iron ore.

“25
percent of everything from the mines goes to the Monarchy. But for what? These
huge resources could be best utilised under the national treasury. What is the
local community benefiting in Maloma, where coal is mined? What did the
community benefit in Ngwenya where Iron Ore was being mined? What is the
country benefiting in the recently opened Lufafa Gold mine? Nothing except
degradation of the environment and exploitation of workers. All this is meant
to soothe the insatiable appetite of a greedy monarchy”.

Bheki
Dlamini believes that the resources that are currently being looted by the
monarchy could go a long way in eradicating poverty and lack of development in
Swaziland. But for this to happen, Swazis must gain control over both the
political and economic system.

“The
solution to economic emancipation lies with us Swazis, but the struggle for
multiparty democracy must never be about voting rights only. The real struggle
is on changing the unequal distribution of our resources”, Bheki Dlamini
concludes.

Thursday, 5 May 2016

Nearly one in three people surveyed in Swaziland said
they got their news from the Internet at least ‘a few times a week’.

One in three also said they used social media for news
during the same period.

The figures were released on Tuesday (3 May 2016) by
Afrobarometer as part of a World Press Freedom Day report.

Afrobarometer surveyed 36 countries across Africa.

It reported that 32 percent of those surveyed in Swaziland said
they used the Internet for news, ‘a few times a week’ or ‘every day’.

It also reported that 33 percent of those surveyed in Swaziland got
their news from ‘social media such as Facebook and Twitter’ a few times a week
or every day.

Swaziland’s mainstream media are heavily censored. All
radio, except one Christian station, is directly controlled by the Swazi
Government. One of the kingdom’s two television stations is also under
government control.

King Mswati III rules Swaziland as sub-Sahara Africa’s
last absolute monarch. He in effect owns the Swazi Observer which is one of
only two daily newspapers in the kingdom. He also in effect owns two of the
four newspapers that publish at weekends.

Critics of King Mswati’s government have taken to
social media in recent years as part of their campaign for multi-party
democracy in the kingdom.

Afrobarometer, commenting on the trend for social media
use across Africa, reported, ‘Distinct demographic patterns are evident in
media use by different groups. In general men, urbanites, youth and the better
educated obtain news from all sources more than women, rural dwellers, older
people, and the less educated.’

Afrobarometer is a research network that conducts
public attitude surveys across Africa on democracy, governance, economic conditions
and related matters.

In 2014, a
report jointly published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa and the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) found young people in
Swaziland were turning to social media sites such as Facebook because it allowed
them to enjoy ‘the fundamental rights to freedom of expression’ that was denied
to them elsewhere in the kingdom.

They also bypassed mainstream media such as
television, radio and newspapers in favour of social media. The report called Youth
Usage of Social media in Swaziland concluded, ‘The young people have welcomed the emergence of the
social media because, among others, it affords them an opportunity not only to
inter-act but also enjoy the fundamental right to freedom of expression
provided in Section 24 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland adopted
in 2005.

The
report added, ‘They can now easily and freely bypass the
severely censored mainstream media to access, produce, distribute and exchange
information and ideas.

‘More importantly, the social media has afforded the young people an
opportunity to speak in their own voices, not mediated by the mainstream media.’

Nearly six in ten people surveyed in Swaziland said
they supported the need for freedom of the media.

The number supporting freedom had increased by 6
percent since 2013.

The figures were contained in a report
from Afrobarometer released on Tuesday (3 May 2016) to
coincide with World Press Freedom Day.

People were asked whether the media should have the
right to publish any views and ideas without government control. A total of 57 percent
of people of people asked agreed or very strongly agreed with the statement.
This placed Swaziland 13th out of 36 African countries surveyed.

Media in Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is heavily censored. The Swazi
Government controls the main television channel and all radio that broadcasts
news and information. One of the kingdom’s two daily newspapers is in effect
owned by the King.

A separate report
from Freedom House, also released on World Freedom Day, concluded that media in
Swaziland are ‘not free’.

Afrobarometer, which produces reports by social
scientists working together across Africa, concluded that support for free
media in Swaziland had increased by 6 percent since it last surveyed opinion in
2011 – 2013.

The report suggested that 64 percent of Swazis
interviewed believed the media should continually investigate and report on
government mistakes and corruption. This placed Swaziland 27th out
of the 36 African countries surveyed.

In its report, Afrobarometer said, ‘Investigating
government mistakes and corruption is seen as a critical role for the media.’
It asked people in Swaziland how effective were the news media in the kingdom
in revealing government mistakes and corruption. A total of 55 percent of
people questioned said it was ‘somewhat / very effective’.

A further 34 percent said it was ’not at all / not
very effective’. A total of 11 percent responded, ‘don’t know’. This placed
Swaziland 22nd out of 36 African countries for ‘media
effectiveness’.

Afrobarometer suggested that changes in the
‘perceptions of media effectiveness’ had improved in Swaziland since the last
survey in 2011 – 2013. It reported there had been a 6 percent increase in perception.

When asked whether news media abused its freedom ‘by
saying things it knows are not true’, 33 percent of people surveyed in
Swaziland said ‘often or always’. This placed Swaziland 16th out of
36 African countries.

Afrobarometer reported that 4 percent more people
surveyed in Swaziland thought the media abused its freedom compared to the
survey undertaken in 2011 – 2013.